


Patchwork

by knightinpinkunderwear



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ed adopts everyone, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Not Canon Compliant, Past Child Abuse, Past Child Neglect, Street Kids, he just adopts all the kids that were abused/abandonned, ive made a total of one quilt, like very tiny, no really, small refernece to quilting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 02:05:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightinpinkunderwear/pseuds/knightinpinkunderwear
Summary: Ed combats abuse by getting abusers arrested then adopting their children.





	Patchwork

 

It started with Ivy. Ivy Pepper, she was small and meek and clever. After her father was killed she was angry, but she also seemed relieved. Ed visited the Pepper family twice a month, bringing a casserole and some plants for Ivy. Her mother, Alice, often found money in odd places after he left. (Between couch cushions, under newspapers). She didn't ask about the money and he never told. It had been working out well until Alice died of an overdose and Ivy was alone, on the streets. 

It wasn't really a decision. He opened his home to her. He slept exclusively on the couch, insisting she take the bed. The bathroom was used for changing clothes. 

The way she crinkled her nose in confusion when offered any simple kindness struck at a heartstring. He knows this is how he would have reacted, he wants to make it better. He wants her to have better than he did. 

Ivy stayed for two months before she figured out that he wouldn't kick her out. That he wouldn't hurt her or yell at her. The apartment was full of little plants in little pots. She had a dresser full of sweaters, pants, dresses, socks. She tolerated his riddles (mostly because he told plant themed ones to her), and she watched several Blue Planet with him. He hadn't convinced her to go back to school, but there was no hurry, Ed knew she'd catch up quickly. He was more concerned about finding a larger home, with bedrooms. He was more concerned with helping Ivy feel safe and healthy. 

He told her that his father had been like hers. That the man knew cruelty more than kindness, that he gave Ed bruises and cuts, that he shouted things that hurt. But most importantly that they, the two of them, were free. 

_

He first met Selina in November. She and Ivy were sitting on the bed, talking when he'd got home from work. 

"You must be Cat, Ivy's told me of you," he said, hanging up his coat. "You can stay if you want."

"How long?" the curly-haired girl asked suspiciously. 

"However long you want," he answered easily. She didn't believe him then. She was suspicious of kindness, she was sensible, and wasn't naive. But she did stay for dinner. Stir-fry. Selina was back the next week. She stayed over a few times, then a few more. Then she stopped leaving. Ivy was very happy about that. Selina's mother had left her alone on the streets, age five. So Ed told her about his mother, about her broken promises, about her leaving. 

Selina didn't think it was the same, she still insisted that her mother was coming back for her. He understood. 

"You can stay here until she gets back then,"

_

 

About a month after Selina moved in she brought home Bridgit. She might've been the largest of the three girls but she acted the smallest. She had burns on her forearms and a minor burn on her chin. She sat too still when he'd attended to them, and only seemed to breathe easy around him when Selina was close. She was fidgety and thought that she ought to do most chores. He compromised by letting her help, he understood why she thought she needed to. 

"If I'd just listened and stopped being 'difficult' I wouldn't be here, bothering you. I'd still be family."

"If they were really family they wouldn't have done that to you, even if you were 'difficult'" He answered. Bridgit made a move to talk again, "It took me a long time to figure that out for myself," he pulled his shirt collar to the side, showing an old circular scar. Bridgit knew what it was, how he got it. "They don't deserve you, and you don't deserve them."

She nodded, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. She hugged him. 

_

With three girls in the bed and Ed on the rather limited space of the couch, they were in desperate need of larger living quarters. Which, thanks to the extra savings from his job was easily bought.

With four bedrooms two and a half bath and a nice kitchen (thank goodness), it was perfect. Though, the lack of a large green neon sign out the windows was going to take some getting used to.  

Bridgit, Selina, and Ivy all worked together to make their rooms perfect. Though no one had bedframes yet, there were mattresses (and Ed had his first night of sleep on one in about five months, he slept like a three-year-old after a sugar rush). 

Ivy had hanging plants and plants on nearly every surface of her room with several books on botany and fungi. 

Selina had a nice box to house her knife collection, a dart board (on her own insistence), and several cat beds for the strays she liked to feed. 

Bridgit had books on pyrotechnics, ornithology, and cages for nursing injured birds to health in. And lots of blankets.

Edward had managed to get all three of the girls enrolled in online classes. Ivy in botany and agriculture (no surprise there), Selina and Bridgit in biology, and Bridgit in chemistry (which Ed was happy to help with), and Selina in economics. All with the promise that they'd be enrolled in public schools next September. 

And it was good. He'd found a family, built it with children from homes like his, together working to make all of their lives better than the ones they came from. Like a patchwork quilt they didn't seem to resemble each other but together it was a beautiful and warm picture. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for awhile.


End file.
